As someone who works on the front lines of the healthcare system, I see firsthand the frustrations and difficulties that patients can face, particularly when they’ve been diagnosed with a serious or critical illness.
Receiving a serious diagnosis can be stressful. In many cases, patients are not treated right away; there are often multiple tests needed to get a full picture of the situation before your doctor can know what kind of treatment you require. Waiting for test results often means weeks of worry as you contemplate your diagnosis and face an uncertain future. And you may also need referrals to other specialist physicians, adding even more waiting time to the process.
With all this information, patients can start to feel overwhelmed. Face-to-face time with treating specialists often feels rushed and patients sometimes feel that they receive incomplete answers, or that they are unable to grasp all of the complex details of their case.
Many patients are also surprised when they realize that there is often no absolute consensus on what the best treatment is for them. Instead of a clear course, they are presented with several options, all with differing risks and benefits. And the reality is that the treatment offered can sometimes differ greatly depending on where you are located in the country as well as the experience of your treating physician.
What’s more, when patients consult the Internet to obtain a better understanding of their issues, they receive all sorts of conflicting information that only increases their anxiety.
How we support patients when they need it most
What patients need at these times is a trained professional who can take the time to help them understand what they are going through. They need access to trusted, personalized health information that will help them feel more in control and empower them to ask the right questions and better understand the answers they receive.
Many patients report feeling unsure of the correctness of their diagnosis and may feel uncomfortable in broaching that subject with their treating doctor. However, I always remind people that it is their right to request a second opinion, and completely reasonable to do so—particularly when they’ve received a serious diagnosis.
The problem is, depending on where you are in the country, it is often not feasible from a time standpoint to obtain a second opinion. That’s why we developed our Medical Second Opinion program to provide the support that Canadians need.
Our Medical Second Opinion program allows our members to obtain a complete review of their critical illness diagnosis by a specialist physician from a Canadian academic health centre. With our program’s comprehensive support, we will ensure that you receive the correct diagnosis and the best treatment plan for you—and, most importantly, that you understand the care that you are receiving and why.
At Novus Health, we endeavour to fill in the gaps in our system so that our members feel fully supported when navigating through some of the most difficult times in their lives.
For more valuable health information, visit our Ask the Expert section.
